The month of October is the hottest month of the year in the desert. This year the first rain showers came earlier than usual, right at the end of September, so the trees started responding to the moisture by producing new green leaves. However, these small rainfalls were not sufficient to fill the natural pans, so the two watering holes artificially pumped with water by Kwando Safaris and Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) continued to be visited by huge numbers of animals.
Big herds of elephants from all directions came in every morning to the camp watering hole and stayed all day and most of the night, usually moving off to browse after midnight. The elephants were very protective over the water supply and rarely gave other animals a chance to drink, however we saw a new and interesting change in their behaviour. They were seen time and again giving way to a herd of buffalo who boldly came to drink, demanding respect from the elephants who allowed them complete access to the water until their thirst was quenched. The elephants were not as tolerant of the lions and one noisy night the elephants and lions roared at each other continuously as they debated drinking rights. In the morning we saw a pride of 11 lions still waiting for the elephants to move so that they could have access to water. The lions had the final word though; a few days later the two males were seen feasting on an elephant calf, surrounded by vultures. They stayed on this carcass for three days.
Because the camp watering hole continued to be the favourite place for the elephants to hang out, other animals were congregating at the Department of Wildlife watering hole. There we saw lots of springbok, impalas, kudu, wildebeest, zebras, ostriches and other birds. The springbok had started to drop their lambs. It was pleasant experience just to sit at this spot and watch the constant procession of creatures and birds coming to drink. Black-backed jackal were usually to be found in the area, chasing guinea fowl, occasionally with success.
One morning as we were at this watering hole there was a pride of 3 lionesses with 6 cubs. A few minutes later we saw springbok, wildebeest, zebras, impalas and ostriches coming to drink. The lionesses were alert and waiting for their moment to pounce. We watched for over an hour whilst they sized up the various prey animals and eventually they killed a zebra fifty metres away from the road. These lionesses stayed there for a day and the following morning we found different lionesses from the Nxai pride, two females with three larger cubs, on the same kill.
As we were watching the lionesses with cubs feeding on a zebra we saw some springbok running very fast about a kilometre away so we quickly drove that in that direction to see what was going on. We got there in time to see that 3 cheetah had managed to take down a springbok. This was a mother with her two sub-adult offspring. A different male cheetah was also seen during the month.
Day trips to Baines Baobabs continued to be rewarding and our guests always enjoy the salt pans, ancient trees and beautiful landscape. Game in the area included oryx, springbok, steenbok, warthogs, ostriches, kori bustards and many other birds.
(Note: Accompanying picture is from our Kwando Photo Library which consists of all your great photo submissions over the years, it may not be the most up to date, but we felt it was worthy of a feature alongside this month’s Sightings Report!)
